"During the XX. century, three totalitarian regimes happened in Greece, 4th of August Regime, the German Occupation and the Military Junta." Introduction
The rich history of Greece in the past century, spans many historical events and covers a lot of changes in politics. The early 20th century finds Greece weak after many bankruptcies and the lost Greco-Turkish war of 1897. During the XX century 3 totalitarian regimes happened in Greece, 4th of August Regime, the German Occupation and the Military Junta. 4th of August Regime The 4th of August Regime, commonly also known as the Metaxas regime, was a totalitarian regime under the leadership of General Ioannis Metaxas that ruled the Kingdom of Greece from 1936 to 1941. On 4 August 1936, Metaxas, with the support of King George II, suspended the Greek parliament and went on to preside over a conservative, staunchly anti-communist government. The regime took inspiration in its symbolism and rhetoric from Fascist Italy, but retained close links to Britain and the French Third Republic, rather than the Axis powers. Lacking a popular base, after Metaxas' death in January 1941 the regime hinged entirely on the King. Although Greece was occupied following the German invasion of Greece in April 1941 and the Greek government was forced into exile in the British-controlled Kingdom of Egypt, several prominent figures of the regime, notably the notorious security chief Konstantinos Maniadakis, survived for several months in cabinet until the King was forced to dismiss them in a compromise with the representatives of the old democratic political establishment.
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"They believed that they could defend their freedom and honor in the mountains. The enthusiasm characteristic of their age made them believe that it was their duty to resist the Communists and that it would have been shameful for the Romanians not to take a stand and say 'No'" Some historical landmarks In 1946 Romania organized elections. With the support of the Russian troops stationed in the country the Communists won the elections by fraud (Cioroianu 2005; Voicu-Arnăuțoiu 2009; Petrescu 2012; Miroiu 2014). The Romanians were surprised by the results because there were few Communist supporters among the people. Then, they believed that Western democratic powers would not tolerate the breach of democracy and would interfere to re-establish the natural order. Communism did not seem to have real chances to be established, let alone be in power in the long term. Some of the military officers of the Romanian army viewed it as their duty to lay the ground for Western (especially US) intervention (Coman, 2004). They began to gather weapons, store them in safe places, organize support networks with trustworthy locals and even train these. That is how the anti-communist resistance movement emerged in the middle of the ‘40s. It was first organized in Bucovina, in the north-east of Romania, but there were resistance groups all throughout the main mountain ranges in the country. There was no central coordination of these groups at national level. The National Resistance Movement established in 1945 could have assumed such a role but it failed because of bureaucracy and financing difficulties and it was de-structured shortly afterwards (Coman, 2004). With a view to the prospective intervention of Western powers to free Romanians from Communism, straightforward armed opposition was considered the natural attitude. Guerilla war also seemed an appropriate way, along with civil disobedience manifested by people when confronted with the abuses of the new regime. However, Western military support did not materialize. Meanwhile, the newly sworn Communist regime consolidated its power. On 30 December 1947, King Michael was forced to abdicate. The former royal army went through a process of political purge. Many officers were forced to retire, then they were accused of anti-Soviet attitude for having participated in the military campaign conducted in the East during WWII. Liberal professions became expensive and professional autonomy began to dwindle in many fields. Previous political affiliation or the “unhealthy” social origin became reasons for firing people and, sometimes, for threatening their lives. In the spring of 1948 the leaders of the opposition parties were imprisoned (Ionițoiu, 1993). The Legionnaire movement (the Archangel Michael Legion), a far-right political group active during the interwar period, in power between 1940 and 1941 and then declared illegal, was initially courted by the new regime. The Communists were willing to forget about the movement’s anti-communist agenda for the sake of better covering the territory with the Legion’s local organizations and paramilitary forces. Thus, they hoped to use these resources for their own gain. That only happened occasionally and hence the movement’s members became a potential threat for the new regime. They were accused of Nazism and a search for their arrest was started. The leaders of local groups were mostly targeted. |
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